‘Blue wall’ leads to mistrust, misconduct, ex-cop says

First of two parts.

They call it “the blue wall.”

It’s the unwritten rule among police officers not to intervene or report a colleague’s misconduct.

Cops don’t rat on cops, said Ben Click, a former Phoenix assistant police chief. That makes it harder for people they’ve sworn to protect to trust them.

It’s why no one stepped in to help George Floyd in Minneapolis when a police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes, killing him.

Two of the officers involved were rookies. They voiced concerns about what was happening but took no action to stop it, their lawyers said.

The man with his knee on Floyd’s neck was the rookies’ training officer, Derek Chauvin, a 19-year veteran, who wouldn’t let up, despite Floyd’s cries that he couldn’t breathe.

Minneapolis police had a policy requiring officers to intervene to stop colleagues from using unreasonable force. That didn’t save Floyd.

Policies like that run up against an organizational culture that discourages that behavior, Click said. Officers who intervene or report unreasonable force risk being ostracized by fellow officers and branded a snitch.

He has 35 years of experience in Phoenix and in Dallas, where he was chief. He disciplined and fired officers for excessive force.

“Officers, from the day you hire them, they need to have that imprinted, that you do not tolerate misconduct on the part of another officer,” Click said.

There’s no excuse for what happened to Floyd. Once handcuffed, he should have been sat on the curb or in the back of a patrol car, Click said. Other officers should have intervened.

They’re trained at the academy how to do it. Do you report your partner for sliding through a stop sign? No. But there are some actions that are inexcusable, Click said. Dishonesty. Unnecessary use of force.

Saturday: Why the blue wall persists.